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Day four in South Africa took us along the coast to Hermanus. One of the excursions that we had pre-booked in South Africa was a Whale Tour with Southern Right Charters in Hermanus. However, sadly, the weather caused the company to cancel the boat trip out of safety, and once we saw the waves, we felt very thankful.
Penguins and Whales in South Africa
Instead of a half-day boat tour, we drove the gorgeously scenic drive along the coast until we reached Stony Point Nature Reserve, Betty’s Bay, to see wild African Penguins. Penguins have always been one of my absolute favorites, and seeing them in real life, in the wild for the first time, brought forth all the emotions I could have expected. So special!
What I wasn’t counting on was falling in love with a new species I didn’t even know existed – the Rock Hyrax, or my favorite name – the Dassie. It’s so stinking cute and the only souvenir stuffed animal I came home with for myself because I am now obsessed!
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Betty’s Bay and the potential of seeing penguins and whales finally got me to use the excellent camera equipment I had lugged to Africa. Unfortunately, though, I did not bring my huge zoom lens that day, which ultimately cost me getting any good photos of the whales, but the lesson learned from the mental images I took and the experience I had will stick with me forever. Until now, I have only shared iPhone photos, and this will be the first post that I’ll have a combo of iPhone 12 Max Pro and Canon 80D images.
After spending the morning with penguins and dassies, taking photos of the animals and each other, we hopped back in the car and headed to Hermanus to look for Whales… and were not disappointed!
I could have stared into the horizon, looking for breaching whales for the rest of my life. What a beautiful, windy, chilly day to witness some of the most gentle and unique creatures on this planet, and to top it off, we saw the giant pod of wild dolphins I have ever seen and MORE DASSIES!
We enjoyed an excellent late lunch at the Burgundy Restaurant and did local souvenir shopping before returning to the hotel for the night. It was time to say goodbye to the Cape Town area because, in the morning, we headed back to the airport for the most minor flight of the trip – the next stop was Skukuza, where we officially entered Kruger National Park for the remainder of our Africa Adventure! Stay tuned…and we hope to see Cape Town again someday!
*** All photos taken on iPhone 12 Pro Max, Canon 80D or Insta360***
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